Doadoa tackles issue of royalties and legal rights

Intellectual property and copyright infringement was the topic at the recently concluded fifth edition of Doadoa, the East African Performing Arts Market held from May 4-7 at the Uganda National Museum in Kampala.

The two have been cited as the biggest challenge facing Africa’s creative economy. The meeting brought together musicians from the region.

“Most musicians in East African go into music recording studios without any terms or conditions. Some producers do not go in for agreements that show how to share royalties earned. Producers should only be paid for the studio time. However, if they have contributed to the intellectual property of the song then they should sign an agreement on sharing the royalties,” said Mike Strano, the founding director of Nairobi-based Phat! Music and Entertainment.

“We don’t even have functioning music labels in East Africa, so in most cases the artist is the label because he or she owns the rights,” he further said.

Mr Strano advises musicians to always sign a “split sheet” — an agreement, that clearly stipulates who owns what part of the intellectual property rights of a song before it is released into the market.

“We must emphasise contractual arrangements and obligations in Africa. We have a bad habit of not signing documents. If you do not want to sign an agreement with me, does it mean you want to sell my intellectual property rights?,” said Dick Matovu, the secretary-general of the Uganda Musician’s Union.

According to Mr Strano, the advantage of a musician belonging to a music label or music publisher is that the label or publisher represents the musician’s rights in negotiations with users who include broadcasters, film and television, distributors, advertising companies and telecom companies.

Ricky Nanjero of Nairobi-based Ricky Na Marafiki Band attributed the ignorance about the importance of copyright in Kenya to the false belief that music is not serious business.

“Some Kenyan musicians come into music considering it as something not very serious because even in Kiswahili we say, ‘Kucheza muziki’ (playing music). We are socialised that you don’t need to go to school to learn how to play music. But as longer as you can play an instrument and sing, and the audience dances to it, you get satisfaction.

“It is high time we started regarding music as a career and look at the business side of it instead of looking at the artistic side only. We should also empower ourselves with knowledge on copyright. We need to bring in people to manage our art as a business, so that if the business is not making a profit you don’t ask the artist but the manager behind the business,” Mr Nanjero suggested.

He further lamented that, “We are getting into music without looking at the long term goals. Music is a lifetime career because your music can last for 50 years after your death. Do not compose a song to last for a few years. It should outlive you. In other words, your music should have no shelf life.”

Mr Strano also observed that most of the royalties collected in Africa end up going to Europe and the US because broadcasters are still playing more international music.

“In short, broadcasters are supporting international musicians at the expense of the local industry. Therefore, we need to have our artists signed to music publishers and copyright management organisations that will collect their royalties. Royalties bring in a lot of working capital.”

Doadoa provides a platform for professional networking and joint learning, bringing together various stakeholders and linking people, organisations, businesses, knowledge and technology with a view to creating demand and developing a market for the performing arts.

This will unlock the potential of the East African creative industry, making it an important factor of economic, social and cultural development throughout the region.